Making a splash! Wesley dominates the national swimming stage
Wesley College is celebrating the outstanding performances of a number of students, including a new state champ, following the recent running of the Australian Age Swimming and SSV State Swimming championships.
Nine students qualified for the national Australian Age Swimming Championships, held during the term break in Queensland, with six competing for the very first time. These include:
- Jessica (Year 11)
- Sahlia (Year 10)
- Amelia (Year 10)
- Amy (Year 9)
- Will (Year 9)
- Olivia (Year 9)
- Keila (Year 8)
- Zoe (Year 8)
- Ariana (Year 8)
‘We are so proud of all our swimmers. It’s an achievement just to qualify for nationals in swimming, and the competition can be intense. For many of our young swimmers, this was their first time competing at this level and it was an eye-opening experience,’ said Janine Bates, Head Coach of Swimming at Wesley College.
Jess (Year 11) competed in backstroke, freestyle and breaststroke across no less than 11 events, making the finals in all of them and taking home five medals - three silver and two bronze in the following events:
- 100m Backstroke - Silver medal
- 50m Backstroke – Bronze medal
- Mixed 16-17 years, 4 x 50m Medley Relay - Silver medal for Victoria
- Girls 16 years, 4 x 50m Medley Relay – Silver medal for Nunawading Swimming Club
- Mixed 13-17 years, 4 x 100m Medley Relay – Bronze medal for Nunawading Swimming Club
Jess also achieved personal best times of 1.01.90 in the 100m Backstroke, 29.17 in the 50m Backstroke and 2.16.85 in the A final of the 200m Backstroke.
Amelia (Year 10) competed in the Girls 15 years events and qualified for the B-Final in the 100m Breaststroke. In 200m Breaststroke, she achieved a personal best time of 2.44.47.
Sahlia (Year 10) also competed in the Girls 15 Years events, with a best result of 26th in the 200m Breaststroke.
It was an incredible experience for our debutante swimmers, competing for the first time at a national level and many were excited to finish in the top 50 in their age group events.
Keila (Year 8) had the chance to experience swimming in the B-Final of the Girls 13 years 100m Breaststroke and achieved personal best times in each of her four events.
‘These swimmers have trained so hard and should be so proud of their results,’ said Janine. ‘I have seen some of these students start their swimming journey as Junior School students and their progress has been so strong. To see the sportsmanship and support they showed to one another at the nationals and the respect they showed their competitors, was something we can all be proud of.’
Breaking records
Wesley is also proud to share that we have a new state champion! Congratulations to Austin (Year 5) for your gold medal winning performance at the SSV State Swimming Championships this week.
Austin achieved a personal best time of 41.80 seconds in the boys 9-10 years 50m Breaststroke event and in the process, set a new state record!
In a few short years, Austin has advanced from swimming lessons as a 4-year-old at Wesley’s Early Childhood Learning Centre through the Junior swimming squad and into competitive club swimming. ‘We could not be prouder of Austin and what he has been able to achieve in such a short time,’ said Janine.
